British Woman Stabbed to Death in AUS Hostel - Attacker shouted Allahu Akbar 23-Aug
08-23-2016, 10:07 PM
French man allegedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar' in fatal stabbing of British woman at Australian hostel
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A French man allegedly cried “Allahu Akbar” during a stabbing attack that left a British woman dead in front of up to 30 horrified onlookers at a backpackers hostel in Australia’s north-east.
The accused killer allegedly repeated the phrase – God is greatest in Arabic – when arrested by Queensland police who were “confronted with a terrible scene” at the hostel in Home Hill – about 100km south of Townsville – on Tuesday night.
Deputy police commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the alleged offender’s comments “may be construed as being of an extremist nature” and investigators were working with Australian federal police to establish his motives.
However, police were “not ruling out any motivations at this early stage, whether they be criminal or political”.
Investigators would also consider whether “mental health or drug misuse” issues were a factor in the attack alongside any “indication of an extremist slant or he was radicalised”, Gollschewski said.
“This is not about race or religion it is about individual criminal behaviour,” he said.
Police were not searching for anyone else in relation to the incident and there was “no ongoing threat to the community”, he said.
The alleged attack also left a British man, 30, in a critical condition with stabbing wounds.
A local man, 47, who intervened in the incident suffered non life-threatening injuries and a dog at the hostel was fatally wounded.
The French man, 29, who is in Townsville hospital after being injured during the incident, has been taken into police custody with charges yet to be laid.
He was not being held under federal anti-terror laws but state criminal laws, with investigators were considering charges including murder and attempted murder, Gollschewski said
The man had been on Australia on a temporary visa since March and appeared to have “no local connections”, he said.
Australian federal police commander Sharon Cowden said while the alleged killer had no known links to extremist groups, investigators would be “speaking to all appropriate international law enforcement” to examine this.
“Any line of inquiry that takes us to international law enforcement we will follow,” she said.
Cowden condemned the incident as a “senseless act of violence”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Superintendent Ray Rohweder told reporters in Townsville that investigators were “still trying to piece together what has happened – we don’t have a motive yet”.
“Police were confronted with a terrible scene when they arrived,” he said. “There were up to 30 people who witnessed the incident.”
Police had been in contact with the British consulate which would liaise with the victims’ families, Rohweder said.
Investigators arrested the French man at the scene and took possession of the knife allegedly used in the attacks. “We’re not looking for anyone else,” Rohweder said.
The French national had been in Australia on a temporary visa since March and was not previously known to police.
A spokeswoman from the British high commission in Canberra said: “We are working with local authorities and providing support to the families after one British national was killed and another critically injured in an incident in Australia.
“Our thoughts are with the families at this difficult time. High commission staff have deployed to Townsville and we remain in close contact with local authorities.”